Upgrade or die: Just 1 more patch for Firefox 3.0

There’s a certain type of computer user who, for one reason or another, can’t or won’t upgrade to newer versions of software. Whether it’s out of fear, laziness, necessity (a work PC that’s locked down, or an app that’s incompatible with newer versions) or an if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it attitude, those folks cling to the old rather than embracing the improvements of the new.

Eventually, of course, that comes around to bite them on the butt. Just ask anyone still using the abominable Internet Explorer 6 when they visit a site like YouTube, which no longer supports it. When IE6 users do stop by to catch the latest viral video, they see this notification:

While IE6 is rapidly losing support among big-name sites – it is expectedto lose even Gmail support from Google later this year – Microsoft continues to issue security patches for it, given that it’s the native browser for Windows XP.

But Mozilla is not going to be so charitable with one of its products. At the end of this month, the company will release the very last update for Firefox 3.0, which was launched in June 2008. In less than two years, it’s been declared obsolete and not worth supporting, as Mozilla has moved on to Firefox 3.6.

Mozilla had planned to discontinue support for Firefox 3.0 in January, but the browser got a lifespan extension after Firefox 3.6 arrived later than planned.

The move reflects a gradual shift to upgrade browsers more frequently, not just to keep up with new features, but also to free resources otherwise spent on testing and maintenance chores and to reduce security risks of older browsers. Google is even more aggressive: Its Chrome browser updates automatically in the background by default, and it calls new releases "milestones" to be passed rather than version numbers to be attained.

Of course, patching Firefox 3.0 against exploitable flaws found after the last update is released creates its own security risk, but it’s one that now falls in the lap of a user of obsolete product. In other words: Upgrade, or face the consequences.

And that’s actually a wise stance. As computing moves toward more Internet-centric practices, it’s important that the tools you use to work on the Net be up to date. Developers are pushing the limits of what the Web can do to provide products and services. In addition, as more is done online, it becomes increasingly important that it be done securely. An outdated, unsupported browser is both inadequate and unsafe.

And that goes for a lot of other software, not just browsers. If you cling to the past, you limit yourself to the capabilities of the past.

In other words, that rickety old software you’re still using IS broke. You just don’t realize it yet.

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11 Responses

I have Firefox 3.6 and everytime I go to open it up, I get this “The update could not be installed, please make sure no other copies of Firefox are running…” message EVERYTIME. I have even goe so far as to remove it completely and download a new install. No avail. IE8 isn’t much better sometimes… I keep getting these “IE has stopped working…” popups whenever I am on the chron.com website and nowhere else…

Why people continue to sprinkle holy water on their dead pet goldfish, hardware, and software is beyond me.

Pal Karl called yesterday for me to watch an eBay listing for a Gateway solo 9500. He needs the restore discs for Win98 & could use the CD writer to upgrade his read only drive. He can’t run his iPhone because the 10 gig (snicker snicker, chuckle chuckle) disc-b-full & wants to dump unnecessary stuff. The nutt’s willing to go 65 skins for this trilobite.

While I applaud Mozilla for forcing upgrades (I really like the Google approach: no choice), I see much of the problem to be Corporate IT. Due to ignorance, laziness or both, CIT is notorious about never upgrading anything on the desktop until they are forced. The common excuse your typical Mordac will give is “it hasn’t been tested.”

I’m still using 98SE on one older PC, because I have 2 essential apps that require it. But with Avast AV, Counterspy and a 120 GB drive, it is still capable of meeting most of my needs, should I choose to do so. My main machine does very well with Ubuntu 9.04 and Firefox, so I have probably bid “farewell” to Microsoft.

I used Chrome almost exclusively at home and I keep trying to get my husband off of IE (he is somewhat techno challenged). I use both Firefox & Chrome at work, but by default we have to use IE to access our company website when working remotely. I have a question though I hope you can answer. My desktop at home is running XP and since it is a little older I am not sure I can upgrade to Win 7 (I ran the upgrade assistant and there is a lot that would have to be reloaded) although there is plenty of memory and disk space. My laptop at home is running Windows 7, but I am unable to get it to link to my printer which is running on my home network. I found some help online (http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/share-files-and-printers-between-windows-7-and-xp/), but it still did not work. Any suggestions or info would be great. If upgrading the desktop is the best solution than I am game.

I’ve stopped using Firefox because I’m so tired of getting an update message almost every time I open it. If it’s not for Firefox itself, it’s for some plug-in I installed. Enough is enough! If Mac Safari can do fine with an update several months apart, Firefox can, too.

E•2•W never gets nagged to freshen FF because he indeed does so. Maybe the Mac version doesn’t go through so many changes but, like the misses who nags to no end about flushing the toilet, a simple flush or update should take the wind out of the nag windbag & then it’s smoooooth sailing.

I’ve been using FF since it first appeared. Lately I’ve been using Chrome more often. It’s simple look took some time to get accustomed to but now it is my default browser. I still use FF for some stuff and rarely if ever use IE.

I update all my software…use Windows 7 now and Chrome seems to take more advantage of what is possible with W7 than FF. Like was said I like the fact Chrome just updates. Wish more software just did what Chrome does.

I live in a rural area and only have 56K dial-up available. After I upgraded to 3.6, FF slowed down to the point where it is not worth using. I switched to Chrome and that was only slightly faster. Finally, I switched to Opera, and it seems to download and open Web pages several times faster than FF 3.6. I have tried all the fixes I could find on-line with little improvement. I do not download or view videos, so the less than perfect screen display in Opera doesn’t matter. I have read letters from others and evidently I am not the only one who has experienced this problem. Is FF addressing this issue in the future?